


Pair

by ironyruinedmylife



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: (its making out), Cisco is protective, Dr Wells is a manipulative douchecake, Eiling is a creep, Hartley Rathaway: World's Saltiest Gay, Hartley and Cisco are literally the worst, Hartmon, Learn their 5$ trick now, M/M, Students hate these two teenage losers, collage AU, group projects gone wrong: Shade edition, tables are hidden under
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-26
Updated: 2016-05-26
Packaged: 2018-07-10 10:07:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 999
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6978982
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ironyruinedmylife/pseuds/ironyruinedmylife
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hartley Rathaway and Cisco Ramon come in a pair. Sometimes this isn't a good thing, especially for their far older college classmates.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Pair

**Author's Note:**

  * For [AlexiaBlackbriar13](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlexiaBlackbriar13/gifts).



> WATCH ME UPDATE ON TIME 
> 
> ALSO HEY ALEXIA. COME SUFFER WITH ME.
> 
> HEY EH2ZIE365, JOIN ME IN THE SIN BIN.

“Cisco Ramon and Hartley Rathaway.” Dr Wells called. The entire class groaned while the pair in question turned slowly to look at each other. Dr Wells raised an eyebrow at his students, _personally_ he thought that they should take a leaf out of his two favourite students book, and perhaps put a little more _effort_ into their work. Clearly his best agreed, as they smiled slyly at each other and immediately began sharing notes.  
  
Originally he had planned to pit them against each other, _anything_ to alleviate the boredom of college. Then they had hit it off, the spark of their minds somehow compatible. Now they were a team in every possible way, and no one dared touch them, after years of bullying and striving to be The Best they finally had a support mechanism, and that was enough for them to ignore any taunts.  
  
It didn’t hurt that everyone was dead scared of the two of them.   
  
They were _far_ too clever to be allowed to be popular.   
  
Cisco had met, _well_ , encountered Hartley in his freshman year, when he’d realised that he was the second youngest attending, if only by a few months, his only peer being a guy called Hartley Rathaway. He asked around, and apparently they were both ‘Irritating know-it-all’s _far_ too young to be here’. But he didn’t pay _too_ much attention, first because it would be weird and second because he had a _lot_ to do, classes were _hell_ , mainly because his professors didn’t seem to want him there and his classmates clearly agreed.   
  
So when group projects became A Thing, Cisco wanted to cry, or scream, or _anything_ except work with the group of Grade A jackasses assigned to his project. He spent the first meeting trying _not_ to punch them while being the only one doing any work. Once they got to presentation day, however, he discovered that he wasn’t the only one in this position.   
  
Overall it had been a very good presentation, clear and concise and Cisco dug the aesthetic. Then a boy who had been quiet for the duration of the speech smiled _really_ wide, and Cisco could see his jagged edges from fifty feet away.   
  
“And now the credits.” He said cheerily and all colour drained from his groups faces and the long, _long_ list of credits appeared, all reading the name ‘Hartley Rathaway’, the boy smiled coolly at his group as the entire class turned, eyebrows raised to stare down the people who had left all the work to the baby of the class.   
  
The group blinked at Hartley, shocked and offended, he smiled wider “ _Suffer_.”  
  
Cisco _liked_ this kid.   
  
So when he did much the same thing, via a loud and cheery declaration of “I’m in the same club as Rathaway.” and their groups were held back by the teacher, he ran off to try and find the kid he apparently had a lot in common with.   
  
He finally found him in the library, curled up under a table with a copy of Notre Dame De Paris (in the original french, Cisco was impressed to discover) and decided to go say hi. Now that he thought about it, under a table was a weird place to sit but hey, everyone was different.  
  
“I like that book. _Very_ dark though, lots of murder.” He offered. Rathaway looked up, eyes wide, and offered a shaky smile “I also like how you dealt with your group.” Cisco grinned at him as the kid blushed  
  
“Thanks, I guess. I _hate_ people like that.” Rathaway replied. Cisco stuck out a hand  
  
“I’m Cisco.”   
  
“Hartley, nice to meet you.” Cisco smiled at his new friend, then blinked  
  
“Wait hang on, _why_ are you under a table?” He asked, feeling that maybe he should have opened with that instead of ‘Hey cool book, very murdery’. Hartley laughed, and it sounded like music and not knowing how to be happy and silently Cisco wondered what kind of person hid behind the glasses and perfect report cards.  
  
“It feels safe.” Hartley said shortly and Cisco was kinda grateful he’d started with the book.   
  
“Fair enough. Wanna get coffee and talk about our douchebag classmates?” Hartley blinked at him, then a wide smile spread over his face, not the cold one from before, this one wasn’t broken glass it was Church windows and coming _home_ and Cisco wondered when the fuck he’d become so poetic.   
  
_Clearly_ Hartley brought out the worst in him.  
  
“Sure.”   
  
After that they came as a pair, the two child prodigies that had the respect of every damn professor in the college and the Not Hatred But Certainly Not Anything Good of the student body. Their projects were professionally published and the teachers dared not separate them in class lest they try and fight their way back to the others side.   
  
Rumour had it that once Mr Eiling had tried to proposition the Rathaway kid and Ramon had _lost his shit_ and broken his nose.   
  
Hartley _adored_ Cisco, the second of the two people in his life that were unconditionally kind to him, and really he wasn’t sure about Dr Wells. He adored the nerdy jokes, the protective glare that kept him safe from seniors fucking with him, the dumb tee’s that eventually he would _have_ to put a stop to, _maybe_ in a week…or two. Cisco _adored_ Hartley, one of the few that put _him_ first and wasn’t infatuated with Dante, he adored the fast paced spanish, the quick shutting down of any unsavoury comments directed at him, the cold gaze that kept the distance between them and the outside world.  
  
So when Dr Wells told them that yet again they were paired together, well, the class was going to love seeing their names at the top of the class, _again_.   
  
Of course this was totally because of the study dates.   
  
(That they didn’t waste half of by making out.)  
  
(And if they did, well, that was their business,)

**Author's Note:**

> As always, lovelies, please leave me a comment and kudos! Thanks for reading, friends!


End file.
